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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25350934">Bat Wings Painted Blind</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaraKeanen/pseuds/ClaraKeanen'>ClaraKeanen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batgirl (Comics), DCU (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>5 Things, Entanglements, F/F, Female Tony Stark, Fluff, HYDRA are assholes, Happy Ending, Pining, so much pining</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:15:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,676</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25350934</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaraKeanen/pseuds/ClaraKeanen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Barbara Gordon falls a little bit in love with Toni Stark x one time she finally does something about it</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Background Steve Rogers/James "Bucky" Barnes, Barbara Gordon/Female Tony Stark, Barbara Gordon/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Bat Wings Painted Blind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <ol>
<li><strong>Wayne Industries Applied Sciences Convention</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Barbara absentmindedly swirled her drink stick around her empty martini glass, watching with envy as Ray worked his way around the room. It was her first time attending the Wayne Industries Applied Sciences Convention, a week-long meeting of the world’s brightest minds in the fields of science and technology. Also present were several higher-ups within the great tech companies of the world – Wayne Enterprises, Stark Industries, Queen Industries, LuthorCorp, OsCorp, Pym Technologies, and so on and so forth – scouting out potential fields of investment. For many, it was a shot they’d spend their life working for.</p>
<p>There was just one teensy, tiny problem with Barbara: she had the wrong chromosome.</p>
<p>Feminism hadn’t reached the upper echelons of the science and technology world, and although her work spoke for itself – and it was her work, just with Palmer’s name attached to it – she was more likely to be taken as a hapless date or paid escort than as a scientist dedicated to her work. She was a <em>woman. </em>This was a <em>man’s world. </em>One particularly enchanting older gentleman had even said as much to her, before handing her his empty wine glass to dispose of.</p>
<p>And so, instead of hobnobbing with the other scientists or – heaven help her – attempting to secure a position within the research department of one of the Big Ten, she was leaning against the open bar and mentally swearing at Ray for being so oblivious to her plight.</p>
<p>“What’d that martini glass ever do to you?”</p>
<p>Her eyes dropped off Ray and turned to face the speaker. <em>Huh. Guess I was wrong.</em></p>
<p>It was a woman in a short, fitted red dress that left no curve to the imagination. Her dark brown hair cascaded past her shoulders in large waves, and the smirk of her red lips made Barbara’s stomach do a little flip.</p>
<p>“It’s – it’s not the glass,” Barbara muttered, embarrassed, setting it down on the bar.</p>
<p>“Ah,” she said, glancing past Barbara and over towards Ray. “Man problems?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but not what you think.”</p>
<p>“Please, you don’t know what I think.” The woman shot her a wink and motioned for the bartender to bring another round. “Let me try and guess though. He’s your husband and he’s having an affair?”</p>
<p>“No,” Barbara replied, vaguely nauseous at the thought.</p>
<p>“Hmm. He’s married and told you he’d leave his wife for you and you’ve just realized that’s not going to actually happen?”</p>
<p>“No, we’re not – there is zero romance there.”</p>
<p>“Ahhh, you’re married but he’s terrible in the sack.”</p>
<p>“No, God, no. We work together.”</p>
<p>“But you’re not <em>together </em>together.”</p>
<p>“Not even in his dreams.”</p>
<p>“I’m not so sure about that,” the woman muttered into the wine glass that the bartender deposited in front of her. “So,” she continued before Barbara could respond, “you work together. He steal your research or something?”</p>
<p>“Not really? It’s complicated.”</p>
<p>“It’s either yes or no, it’s not that complicated.”</p>
<p>Barbara sighed, nodding in thanks at the bartender and reaching for fresh martini. “It’s my work, but part of our negotiations was for him to be listed as co-author. So naturally –“</p>
<p>“Everyone thinks he did it all and you’re his fuckbuddy.”</p>
<p>Barbara choked on her martini, setting it back down on the bar. “I guess so.”</p>
<p>“Been there. You should just start your own company. It’d be way less stressful than dealing with these assholes.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I don’t think so,” she shook her head. “I’m more interested in research than day-to-day business operations.”</p>
<p>“Really?” The woman turned to lean against the bar, looking at Barbara appraisingly. “So, what’s your area of expertise?”</p>
<p>“Computer science, mechanical and bioengineering,” Barbara shrugged matter-of-factly. “I triple-majored at MIT. Took me five years, but it was totally worth it.”</p>
<p>“Triple major? Wow,” the woman whistled. “Any post-grad work?”</p>
<p>“Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering. I went straight into it after finishing my undergrad degree.”</p>
<p>“What did you do for your Master’s project?”</p>
<p>“I created the Palmer Technologies Spinal Recalibration Chip.”</p>
<p>“You’re Barbara Gordon!” The woman exclaimed. “That was you!”</p>
<p>“Uh, yeah,” Barbara felt a warm flush settle across her cheeks.</p>
<p>“The SRC is a work of genius. Not exactly standard mechanical engineering, though.”</p>
<p>“No, not at all. But it was important to me.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, you use it yourself, don’t you?” The woman was back to scrutinizing her. Barbara just nodded in reply, and took another swig of her martini. “So, what do you want to do next?”</p>
<p>“Honestly, I’m not quite sure,” she admitted, her fingers tracing around the edge of her martini glass. “I have a lot of different interests. I’d like to continue working in healthcare innovation, but I’m also interested in clean energy. And artificial intelligence, I’d love to work on that.” Barbara shrugged. “I was sort of hoping that I’d be able to network here, see what other people were working on, maybe get an interview to join a research team somewhere.”</p>
<p>“You don’t want to keep working with Palmer then?”</p>
<p>“Ray’s focus is on building a brand rather than on scientific exploration. At least for right now. Call me naïve, but I’d rather work at a company with a secure future.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I don’t blame you for that,” the woman snorted again. “Aren’t you from Gotham though? Why don’t you work for Wayne?”</p>
<p>“This may come as a shock, but Gotham is sort of the worst,” Barbara replied drily.</p>
<p>At that, the woman burst out laughing. “You got me there. How do you feel about New York?”</p>
<p>“I like it,” Barbara shrugged. “I’ve only been there a few times, but it’s much less terrifying on a day-to-day basis.”</p>
<p>“You say that now. Just wait until New Year’s. Here,” the woman said, reaching into a circular-shaped clutch and handing Barbara a red-and-gold card. “Call this number on Monday, ask for Isaac. He’ll make sure you’re taken care of.” The woman stepped back, and dropping a – was that a hundred-dollar bill? – on the bar, winked at Barbara before turning away. “See you around, Red.”</p>
<p>“Uh – thank, thank you?” Barbara said, her eyes glued to the retreating figure of the woman in front of her. It was only when she was out of sight that she looked down at the card in her hand. <em>Antonia Stark, c/o Stark Industries.</em></p>
<p>“Bartender?” Barbara squeaked out in disbelief. “I’m going to need another drink.”</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Orientation</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Through some miracle, Barbara had not only secured an entry-level research position on the Stark Industries Innovative Technology team, she’d actually managed to move to New York City without her father having a coronary or Bruce attempting to buy out her contract. In fact, it was only through Alfred and Clark’s aggressive interventions (<em>“It’s a good thing when chicks leave the nest.” “Enough with your farm metaphors, Kent.”</em>) that Bruce had limited himself to a twenty-minute lecture on staying safe and making good choices and “for the love of all that is holy, please, please, <em>please </em>avoid the Avengers, especially Toni Stark, she has a terrible reputation”. She figured the last part would be the easiest to do. Yes, she was working in the Tower, but not on one of the private floors. And yes, she’d actually been actively headhunted by the infamous Toni Stark – which gave <em>Bruce </em>a coronary – but that didn’t mean she was going to run into her all the time, let alone the Avengers.</p>
<p>Then again, she really should have known that she wouldn’t catch a break.</p>
<p>She was sitting at her small desk, half-listening-but-mostly-scribbling-an-AI-design-onto-a-workpad when a blueberry muffin fell out of the sky and onto her lap. She jumped, barely catching it before it tumbled onto the ground.</p>
<p>“Blech, orientation videos. God, those are the worst.”</p>
<p>Blinking, Barbara spun in her chair to find herself gazing at Toni Stark. This time, the older woman was dressed in a perfectly-tailored black suit, her hair still falling down her shoulders in a rich cascade that made Barbara instantly self-conscious about her hastily pinned up bun. “I hope you like blueberry.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s my favorite, actually,” Barbara replied slowly, still in a slight state of shock. “Uh, what brings you to our floor? Rahim said you usually don’t visit the lower –“</p>
<p>“Please, Rahim doesn’t know everything,” Toni said, walking over and sitting herself on Barbara’s desk. “Besides, I wanted to see how my new favorite employee was liking New York.”</p>
<p>“Oh, well, it’s –“</p>
<p>“ANTONIA MARIA STARK!” Barbara saw Toni flinch and spun around again, this time to see a tall, thin woman with strawberry blonde hair power-walk her way into the laboratory. “The Board Meeting started almost ten minutes ago –“</p>
<p>“Ease up, Pepper, they have to wait for us –“</p>
<p>“Toni, that’s not the point, it’s common courtesy – oh, hello,” Virginia “Pepper” Potts said, her eyes dropping down towards Barbara and then narrowing. “You’re the scientist from Gotham, aren’t you?”</p>
<p>“Uh, yeah, that –“</p>
<p>“Oh, would you look at the time, we’re going to be late,” Toni said, standing up so quickly Barbara almost dropped her muffin. Again. “Next time, schedule your breakfast for delivery, okay, you only get the CEO special on your first day.” With that, Toni grabbed Pepper by the arm and practically pulled Pepper out of the laboratory, the two women whispering animatedly all the while. Barbara just sat, frozen, watching as the automatic door closed behind them. She turned back to her desk, only to find the rest of the inhabitants of her lab – twelve in total – all staring at her.</p>
<p>“Ms. Gordon?” Rahim, her cohort head, looked at her in confusion.</p>
<p>“I honestly have no idea.”</p>
<p>“Well, uh, feel free to take five and, uh, eat your muffin?”</p>
<p>Flushing bright red, Barbara took up his offer without a second thought.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Starbucks</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Barbara was great at her job. She’d been told early on in her training that they expected it would take a few months for her to get all caught up. In reality, it took less than a week. Rahim, the cohort leader, noticed too, and pretty soon Barbara was singlehandedly writing test programs that the rest of the team could use at the early stages of the limited AI development project they were working on. However, she was still the “newbie”, so it was her job every Friday to pick up the lab’s coffee orders from Starbucks. That wasn’t <em>really </em>an issue for Barbara; she didn’t mind getting to stretch her legs, and she <em>loved </em>Starbucks. No, it was attempting to carry all 13+ drinks back to the Tower in one trip without spilling. After her first Friday run, she’d spent her weekend jerry-rigging together a crude wagon/cooler system thing with a few boxes from her move and it had sort of worked? For two Friday coffee runs. It’d given out after the second one, and so she’d thrown it in the trash, and though she had <em>had </em>plans for making a Coffee Wagon Mach Two, she spent her entire weekend watching Queer Eye and eating ice cream instead. So, one month into her tenure at Stark Industries, Barbara spent her Friday morning walk to Starbucks agonizing over how she was going to get them all back to the Tower. Their order was ready when she arrived, so she stacked all of the drinks onto one of the small café tables and stared, hoping that divine inspiration would strike.</p>
<p>“That’s a lot of coffee.”</p>
<p>She snorted. “You can say that again.”</p>
<p>“That’s a <em>lot </em>of coffee.”</p>
<p>Barbara’s eyes snapped over to the speaker. It was a tall, muscular blonde man with bright blue eyes who looked vaguely familiar.</p>
<p>“You’re not going to drink all that yourself, are you? I’m fairly certain that’s some sort of health code violation.”</p>
<p>
  <em>Health code viola – HOLY SHIT.</em>
</p>
<p>She felt the smirk appear on her face. “You <em>would</em> know all about health code violations.”</p>
<p>He grinned right back.</p>
<p>////</p>
<p>Which is how Barbara got Captain America – “please, call me Steve” – to be her personal coffee chauffeur for her Friday coffee runs. And not only that, since she arrived at the Tower so early every morning (granted, 7:30 wasn’t atypically early, but it felt like it in her spirit), by the time she was ready for her mid-morning break, Steve had usually gone on a run, done some weight training, taken a shower, had breakfast, and was in the mood to grab his post-breakfast coffee, and so the two would meander their way to the local Starbucks and chat.</p>
<p>Barbara had honestly been a little reticent to get to know Steve, at first. Her time in the Justice League had introduced her to all sorts of “supermen,” and most of them weren’t Clark Kent (cough cough, <em>Oliver Queen</em>.) Steve was different. He was a bit of a smart-ass, and wasn’t afraid to give a little (or a lot of) sass, but he never really hid his vulnerabilities from her – at least, once she’d admitted to spending some time assisting the Gotham vigilantes, at which point he’d decided she was good people. And New York was crazy busy, and a little lonely (and while everyone in her cohort was great, it was again mainly guys, and the three other women were middle-aged with kids and intimidatingly tight-knight), and Steve – he just understood.</p>
<p>(And if he dropped in stories about her boss’ boss, well, that was just an added bonus.)</p>
<p>(Who she hadn’t seen since that first day with the muffin. Which was to be expected, honestly.)</p>
<p>(She was fine.)</p>
<p>(It’s fine.)</p>
<p>////</p>
<p>“I’m just worried things aren’t going to be the same,” Steve sighed as the exited the elevator walked into the main floor of the R&amp;D hub.</p>
<p>“They probably won’t be,” Barbara replied honestly, stopping in her tracks to turn and look at Steve. “But that doesn’t mean that they won’t still be good.”</p>
<p>He sighed, and if his hands hadn’t been full of coffee, he’d probably have Barbara up in a hug. “I know. I just worry. It’s hard.”</p>
<p>“I know,” she replied with a small smile, rubbing his arm with her empty left hand. The elevator door dinged again behind them. “But I’m here for you, you know that, right? And James, if either of you ever need to talk.”</p>
<p>“Thanks, Barbara. That means a lot.”</p>
<p>“Red!”</p>
<p>Barbara froze, her eyes widening almost automatically in response. Steve’s brow furrowed as he glanced at Barbara and the speaker who was approaching them.</p>
<p>“Fraternizing on company time I see,” Toni Stark stopped next to them, ignoring the snickering blonde man dressed in black and purple standing next to her. They were also accompanied by another redhead who was staring at Barbara like she was a particularly interesting species of insect. Barbara would have been internally panicking on now having met four of the Avengers that <em>Bruce told her to avoid </em>but she was too busy looking at Toni and the expression on Toni’s face that made something in Barbara’s stomach shrivel up with more emotions than she could properly discern.</p>
<p>“Toni, it’s not what you think.”</p>
<p>“No, Ms. Stark, I can explain,” Barbara panicked, her words tumbling out in a rush of air. “I took my morning break to do the Friday coffee run for our cohort and Steve – uh, the Captain here, helped me carry all the drinks back.”</p>
<p>“What a hero,” the redhead – no, Natasha Romanoff – replied with a smirk.</p>
<p>“Well, it is way easier to carry twelve hot coffees –“</p>
<p>“When you don’t have to?” Steve replied drily.</p>
<p>“Hey, you watch your tongue, Mister, or next time you’re buying your own damn bagel,” Barbara forced out a laugh, finally pulling herself away from Toni’s intense gaze.</p>
<p>“Yes, ma’am,” Steve saluted jokingly, easing up his grip so Barbara could grab the stack of coffees out of his hands. “Are you sure you don’t want help getting them back to the lab?”</p>
<p>“No, it’s only a few steps from here. Besides, it looks like you’ve got business to take care of,” Barbara nodded towards Toni and company.</p>
<p>“She’s right. Hop to it, Rogers, we’ve got a meeting.”</p>
<p>“How long has this been going on?” Toni ignored Natasha, stepping towards Barbara so she was now between Barbara and Steve in a lopsided triangle formation.</p>
<p>“A couple of months,” Steve replied in confusion. “Barbara’s the newest member of the team, so she does the –“</p>
<p>“Friday coffee run, yeah, I heard. Why don’t you just go to the coffee shop on the main floor?”</p>
<p>“I was expressly told by Melissa that unless I wanted to get on Kevin’s bad side, I should offer to walk the three blocks to the nearest Starbucks every Friday and not risk invoking his wrath upon the team.”</p>
<p>“Anderson? The man loves his Starbucks, that’s for sure,” Toni hummed thoughtfully. “Anderson,” she murmured to herself before pivoting on her heel and walking towards the block of private elevators. Barton and Romanoff followed her, but not before sparing a last look at Barbara. Barbara was too busy looking at the way in which Toni’s hair fell down her back and how the ripped black jeans accentuated her hips to notice anything else – at least, until Steve cleared his throat.</p>
<p>“Looks like I’m not the only one pining around here.”</p>
<p>“Shut it, Rogers.” Barbara turned in a huff and quickly made her way back towards her lab, ignoring Steve’s laughter behind her.</p>
<p>////</p>
<p>The following week rushed by in a blur. They were steadily approaching the beta testing phase of the new StarkPhone interface at work, which meant that Barbara was pulling long hours there, and there’d been a recent uptick in Scarecrow Toxin incidents in Gotham, which meant that her nights were spent running Oracle, and Barbara was consequently running on about fourteen hours of sleep for the entire week. So, when she stumbled into work Friday morning, she could be forgiven for not immediately noticing the huge new sign in the lobby of Stark Tower.</p>
<p>“Hey, Gordon!” Barbara blinked blearily and turned to look at Kevin, who was beaming wildly in the Stark Tower coffee shop – except it wasn’t the Stark Tower coffee shop anymore. There was a familiar green-and-white logo painted above the large entryway. “Guess you won’t have to do any more coffee runs!”</p>
<p>Barbara just stared uncomprehendingly. “What?”</p>
<p>“Ta da!” A familiar voice sang behind her. “What do you think?”</p>
<p>She turned. Of course. Toni was standing there, looking impeccable as ever in a long-sleeve red portofino and that same pair of torn black jeans. Barbara instantly felt self-conscious about her haphazard bun and dark circles.</p>
<p>“It’s a Starbucks?”</p>
<p>“It’s a Starbucks,” Tony smiled triumphantly. “They’ve been trying to get in the Tower for years, but I didn’t really want to show favoritism, <em>but </em>since so many of my employees apparently have it running in their blood, it just felt like time. Besides, now it solves all our problems.”</p>
<p>“All our problems?” Barbara repeated slowly, still not entirely comprehending what was happening. Toni turned her satisfied smile at Barbara, and all thoughts of coffee flew out the window.</p>
<p>“Oh my God, you’re hurt!” She exclaimed, dropping her handbag on the floor and reaching for Toni’s face. Of course, she didn’t realize just what she was doing until her hand was <em>on </em>Toni’s forehead, but Toni didn’t look too uncomfortable (or uncomfortable at all). So, she made sure to just carefully brush the hair out of Toni’s face and get a look at the bruising on her forehead.</p>
<p>“Oh that? It’s nothing. You should see the other guy. Actually, you can’t, because the other guy was a Doombot and they’ve all been melted down.”</p>
<p>“Oh. Well, I, uh, I’m just glad you’re okay.”</p>
<p>“Sweetheart, I’m Toni Stark, I’m never <em>not </em>okay. Come on,” she said, stepping forward and gesturing for Barbara to follow her. “Mochas on me.”</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Toni’s Lab</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Things started getting strange after Toni unveiled the Starbucks in Stark Tower. The other scientists on her floor were starting to look at her like she was some sort of messiah, and now whenever one of them had a prototype to deliver to Toni for final testing, they somehow convinced Barbara to take it up to the executive floor. Or, well, she was <em>supposed </em>to drop it off on the executive floor. After the first time that the PAs alerted Toni that Barbara was there with a prototype, Toni just gave Barbara a limited access code to her own(!) personal(!) lab(!) in the private floors(!) and instructions to just bring the prototypes up herself, which is how Barbara found herself slowly spending more and more time in Toni’s personal lab, going over the various commercial R&amp;D prototypes with Toni herself(!) and playing with Toni’s bots.</p>
<p>Watching Toni work up close and personal was <em>incredible. </em>Barbara knew plenty of geniuses, but none of them could really compare to Toni. It seemed like her mind was always moving, always working and creating and categorizing and planning multiple things at the exact same time. And if Toni looked good in a red dress or a suit, well, she looked like a goddess wearing old rock tees that were covered in oil.</p>
<p>Consequently, watching Toni work up close and personal was <em>terrible. </em>She’d been able to play dumb before – of course Toni was attractive, Toni was friendly with all of her staff, Toni was a notorious flirt, Toni had this sort of reputation, Toni was just being nice – but the more time she spent with her, the more time Barbara realized that her crush on the Stark heiress was getting wildly out of control and she had <em>no one to talk about it with</em>.</p>
<p>Well, except for Steve.</p>
<p>Their coffee dates had been sort of sidelined as of late now that Starbucks was in the Tower, especially since Toni seemed to always be around when Barbara took her mid-morning coffee break, and if Steve ever happened to meet them there, Toni usually dominated the conversation to the point that most mornings Barbara and Steve hadn’t even had the chance to say hello. Steve looked amused at first, but as time went on he seemed more and more tense until finally, a few weeks after the grand unveiling of the Stark Tower Starbucks, Steve showed up at Barbara’s apartment out of the blue.</p>
<p>“Sorry, I didn’t order – Steve?”</p>
<p>Steve stood there, his face drawn tight. “Can I come in?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, of course, what’s wrong?” Barbara asked, stepping back. Steve had only been over once before, and that was on an unfortunate Friday morning in which Barbara had accidentally spilled Kevin’s coffee all over her blouse and Steve had given her a quick lift home to change. She was honestly surprised he’d even remembered where she lived.</p>
<p>He stepped in, closed the door behind him, and sighed, his shoulders falling down towards the floor. “It’s Bucky.”</p>
<p>“Oh my God, sit down,” Barbara shooed him towards the couch. “I think I’m actually out of wine, but I have pizza in the oven and ice cream in the freezer –“</p>
<p>“Wine doesn’t get me drunk. But this does,” he said, pulling out a large brown bottle.</p>
<p>Barbara frowned. “What is that?”</p>
<p>“Asgardian mead.”</p>
<p>“What, seriously?”</p>
<p>“Yep. I brought enough to share.”</p>
<p>“Ahhh, it’s one of <em>those </em>nights, huh?”</p>
<p>Steve’s face fell, and Barbara instantly felt like she’d kicked a puppy. “Yeah.”</p>
<p>“I’ll grab the glasses.”</p>
<p>/////</p>
<p>“And the Profess’r said his, his memory is as fixed as it’s gonna be, and it’s, that’s great, but – but – he doesn’t remember that I love him and I love him <em>so much</em>,” Steve hiccupped before taking another swig of mead. “And ‘m sad because I love him so much and he, he just doesn’t know.”</p>
<p>“Steve, ssSteve, Steef, you gotta <em>tell him</em>,” Barbara slurred back.</p>
<p>“But what if, what if he doesn’t love me?”</p>
<p>“He <em>does!”</em></p>
<p>“But what if he doesn’t love me?”</p>
<p>“HE DOES! Oh my God, Steve, you and Bucky are like meant, meant to be together. It’s fate. It’s destinyyyyyyyy! You jus’ gotta tell him!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, I’ll tell him when you tell TONI –“</p>
<p>“NOOOOOO!”</p>
<p>“ – you tell Toni that you loveeee herrr.”</p>
<p>“NOOOOOOOOO!”</p>
<p>“YOU DO, YOU LOVE HER!”</p>
<p>“NO I DON’T!”</p>
<p>“YES YOU DO!”</p>
<p>“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Barbara grabbed a pillow off the couch and laid it over her face.</p>
<p>“YOU DOOOOOOOO!”</p>
<p>“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”</p>
<p>“Why not?”</p>
<p>“ ‘Cause she’s so pretty and so smart and so nice and so pretty and so funny and so pretty – Steve, she’s SO PRETTY –“</p>
<p>“Yeah well <em>you’re </em>so pretty too –“</p>
<p>“Nuh uh, not pretty like Toni –“</p>
<p>“YES pretty like Toni –“</p>
<p>“She’s <em>PERFECT </em>STEVE! SHE’S PERFECT AND SHE’S TOO, TOO PRETTY AND I, I JUST WANNA HOLD HER HAND AND KISS HER AND I ONLY WANNA HAVE BABIES WITH TONI!”</p>
<p>“YOU WANNA HAVE BABIES WITH TONI!”</p>
<p>“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO –“</p>
<p>/////</p>
<p>Her phone was ringing.</p>
<p>It was a piercing, shrieking ring, and she hated it.</p>
<p>“Stop.”</p>
<p>It didn’t stop.</p>
<p>Grumbling, Barbara reached for her phone – slowly, though, because the floor was still moving. “Hello?” She murmured into her phone.</p>
<p>“Gordon, I need you at the Tower. Now.”</p>
<p>“It’s – it’s Saturday?”</p>
<p>“What – yes, it’s Saturday, but you’re on contract –“</p>
<p>Barbara groaned, and someone’s hand – Steve’s hand – grabbed the phone from her and spoke into it. “Hey Toni, I – what? No, no, it’s not – Toni, you’re being ridiculous, I can explain.”</p>
<p>“TONI?!” Barbara all but jumped off the couch. The ground was still waving around underneath her, but she ran for her purse anyways. “Toni, Toni –“</p>
<p>“ – overreacting, I don’t – absolutely not, you’re not going anywhere!”</p>
<p>“Hmmm. Need keys,” Barbara said, dropping to the floor and crawling around. “Keys, keys, keys –“</p>
<p>“ – have to go. Barbara!”</p>
<p>“ – keys, keys, KEYS!” Barbara sang triumphantly, holding up her keys. “Keys keys keys – HEY!” She yelled as the keys were snatched out of her hand.</p>
<p>“You are going to bed.”</p>
<p>“NO!”</p>
<p>“Barbara, you have to sleep this off – no, you, stop crawling!”</p>
<p>“NO! I gotta see Toni!”</p>
<p>“BARBARA –“</p>
<p>“NOOOOOOOOOO!”</p>
<p>“BARBARA –“</p>
<p>“PLEASE, STEVE, TONI – TONI NEEDS ME – STEVE? WHY DO YOU HAVE THREE HEADS?”</p>
<p>She heard Steve gulp. “Yeah, maybe we should go see Toni.”</p>
<p>“Yay, Toni!”</p>
<p>/////</p>
<p>Barbara was a little concerned that the world was spinning around her in a backwards rotation and that Steve didn’t seem to notice, but all of that was forgotten once the doors to Toni’s private lab opened.</p>
<p>“ – none of your business, Toni!”</p>
<p>“ – with Stark, I want to hear what he has to say!”</p>
<p>“ – cannot believe you, this goes entirely against company policy!”</p>
<p>“ – you could just <em>talk </em>to them –“</p>
<p>“My company, my policy, Potts! And speak of the devil! Miss Gordon, we need to talk about your blatant disregard for the personal lives of –“</p>
<p>“TONI! HI TONI!” Barbara lunged forward, but Steve wrapped his arms around her waist, preventing her from plummeting towards the floor. Toni looked beautiful, as always, sort of like she was going into battle, which was strange, because none of the other Avengers – or Ms. Potts – were dressed fancy.</p>
<p>“Barbara, please, you can hardly walk.”</p>
<p>“Rogers, what the hell did you do to her?”</p>
<p>“I didn’t do anything –“</p>
<p>“HI TONI! WE DRANK MEAD!”</p>
<p>“Mead? As in the ASGARDIAN MEAD?”</p>
<p>“It was <em>so yummy.</em>”</p>
<p>“Aye, it is quite delicious!”</p>
<p>“How much did she have?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, Toni, two or three glasses –“</p>
<p>“WHAT THE HELL, ROGERS!”</p>
<p>“What, she seemed fine!”</p>
<p>“Mmm, I like the mead! It reminds me of that wine J’onn brought from Mars.”</p>
<p>Everyone in the lab stopped talking at that. Toni even froze. Toni was <em>beautiful</em>. “Did you say Mars?”</p>
<p>“Yup!”</p>
<p>“Rogers, just who is this chick?”</p>
<p>Barbara gasped, then squealed. “BUCKY! Steve, it’s Bucky!”</p>
<p>“Yes, Barbara, I know –“</p>
<p>“STEVE!” Barbara turned around and grabbed Steve’s face, pulling it towards her. “YOU SHOULD TELL BUCKY!”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Tell Bucky what?”</p>
<p>“Can someone get her to please stop yelling?”</p>
<p>“BUCKY!” Barbara turned back around and lunged towards the group, fighting – and failing – to get Steve to let her go. “BUCKY, STEVE THINKS –“</p>
<p>“Barbara, STOP. TALKING.”</p>
<p>“NO, STOP, WE HAVE TO TELL HIM, BUCKY, STEVE –“</p>
<p>“Rogers, let her go before you hurt her!”</p>
<p>Steve released his arms and Barbara stumbled forward, falling into the arms of a startled looking Bucky Barnes. “BUCKY! Psst! Steve doesn’t want me to tell you but he won’t tell you and he needs to tell you because you two need to be together FOREVER –“</p>
<p>“BARBARA!”</p>
<p>“Steve LOVES YOU and wants to HAVE YOUR BABIES!”</p>
<p>The lab fell silent again.</p>
<p>“Bucky, I –“</p>
<p>“If you wanna have my babies, Rogers, you gotta marry me first.”</p>
<p>“I –“</p>
<p>Bucky dropped Barbara out of his arms and swept behind Barbara. “I love you too, ya moron.”</p>
<p>“Yay!” Barbara squirmed happily before collapsing onto the still-spinning ground. DUM-E rolled over towards her, extending his claw at her. “Hi DUM-E! How are you?”</p>
<p>“I gotta be honest, I did not see that coming.”</p>
<p>“You owe me twenty dollars, Barton.”</p>
<p>“I believe you owe me as well, friend Barton!”</p>
<p>“Well, Toni, do you have anything to say for yourself?”</p>
<p>“Don’t look at me like that.”</p>
<p>DUM-E grabbed hold of Barbara’s shirt and half-guided, half-dragged her over to a small pile of scraps that he was in the midst of stacking. “Great job, DUM-E! Have you shown Toni? Toni’s great.”</p>
<p>“Well?”</p>
<p>“Look, Pepper –“</p>
<p>“Don’t you ‘look, Pepper’ me!”</p>
<p>“I just did!”</p>
<p>“Hey, Rogers, if you can stop necking with your boyfriend, we’ve got a bit of a situation over here –“</p>
<p>“Not to mention the fact that you gave civilian unauthorized access to Asgardian liquor.”</p>
<p>“Look, in my defense, I really wasn’t thinking about it –“</p>
<p>“OBVIOUSLY! Damn it, Rogers!”</p>
<p>“I like this piece,” Barbara said, ignoring the noise around her. She reached down to grab one of the large screws, but the floor suddenly spun, and her hand landed wrong, scattering all of the pieces DUM-E had stacked.</p>
<p>It was ruined.</p>
<p>She’d ruined it.</p>
<p>She’d ruined everything.</p>
<p>“No,” she moaned quietly, tears starting to fall down her face. “Oh no, Toni.”</p>
<p>DUM-E beeped sadly.</p>
<p>It was over.</p>
<p>It was all over.</p>
<p>Toni was going to throw her out of the Tower and Barbara would never see her again and no one would ever hire her because she ruins everything and she’d be sad and alone and Bruce would never –</p>
<p>Bruce.</p>
<p>BRUCE!</p>
<p>Barbara grabbed her phone out of her purse, tears falling down her face, and pressed the button for Bruce’s phone.</p>
<p>“ – checked out by a doctor –“</p>
<p>“ – don’t look at me, I’m not that kind of doctor –“</p>
<p>“ – are you all here anyways? None of you are ever awake this early on a Saturday!”</p>
<p>“Barbara, is everything all right?”</p>
<p>Barbara snuffled loudly into the phone. “I’ve ruined EVERYTHING!”</p>
<p>The lab around her fell silent.</p>
<p>“Shit.”</p>
<p>“Barbara? What are you – are you crying?”</p>
<p>She sniffled loudly, wiping her nose with the dirty rag DUM-E handed her. “No.”</p>
<p>“Hold on, I’m switching over to FaceTime.” Her phone beeped and Bruce’s picture appeared. “Barbara, what’s wrong?”</p>
<p>“<em>Barbara? How is she? Tell her hi!”</em> she heard Clark call.</p>
<p>“Hi Clark!” She smiled before her face fell. “Bruce, I ruined everything, Toni called and I came over to the Tower and, and there was this really important project and I messed it all up and now everything is ruined and she’s going to hate me forever and I’m gonna have to move back to Gotham and marry Jason because the last time I saw him he said I would have to if I moved back home and I don’t wanna marry Jason!”</p>
<p>Bruce looked slightly confused. “I don’t – wait, did you say Toni? As in Toni Stark?”</p>
<p>“Dude, is that Bruce Wayne? She’s talking to Bruce Wayne!”</p>
<p>“<em>Toni Stark? What’s going on?</em> Barbara?” Clark’s face appeared behind Bruce. “Barbara! What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”</p>
<p>“NO I came to the Tower and I ruined EVERYTHING AND I HAVE TO MARRY JASON NOW!”</p>
<p>“ – Alfred, get the jet – Barbara, you need to tell me what’s going on –“</p>
<p>“ – you two are useless, give me the phone –“ Selina’s face suddenly appeared on Barbara’s phone screen. “Hi, sweetie. Is everything okay?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>Selina squinted at her. “Have you been drinking?”</p>
<p>“A little.”</p>
<p>“Uh, hi,” Steve’s head was suddenly right next to Barbara. “I’m Steve Rogers.”</p>
<p>“Captain America. I’m familiar.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, uh, I was visiting Barbara last night and gave her some Asgardian mead –“</p>
<p>“ – Rogers? ASGARDIAN MEAD?!” Bruce’s face appeared back in the picture. “What did I tell you about staying away from the Avengers?”</p>
<p>Barbara burst into tears.</p>
<p>“Nice going, Bruce,” she heard Selina growl. “Now, kitten, tell me, why are you so upset?”</p>
<p>“Well,” Barbara hiccupped, “Toni called and said to come to the Tower and I came to the Tower and Bucky and Steve are going to get married and I was happy but then I messed up this project and now I’m sad because they’re going to hate me and I’ll never get to come back again and I’ll have to come home and marry Jason and I’m just so sad,” she half-gasped, half-sobbed.</p>
<p>“Honey, I’m sure whatever this project is, you can fix it, you’re one of the smartest people I know!”</p>
<p>“Hi, Selina.” Now it was Toni’s voice from behind Barbara. “It’s not actually a project, it was a pile of trash on the floor.”</p>
<p>“See, honey? You can just pick it up, you’re fine.”</p>
<p>“No, Toni’s gonna be mad –“</p>
<p>“I’m not mad.”</p>
<p>“She’s not mad!”</p>
<p>“ – and I don’t wanna *gasp* marry *gasp* Jason!”</p>
<p>“Okay, who is this Jason?”</p>
<p>“Barbara, honey, you <em>don’t </em>have to marry Jason. Besides, you’re so gay you’re basically a lesbian.”</p>
<p>“But – but – I love Thor!”</p>
<p>“All lesbians love Thor, sweetie.”</p>
<p>Barbara shuddered. “So I don’t have to marry Jason?”</p>
<p>“Of course not.”</p>
<p>“And I – I can stay?”</p>
<p>“Of course she can!”</p>
<p>“Only if you want to. Although I do think Bruce is only a few minutes away from getting on his jet.”</p>
<p>“Hey, Red, sweetie.” Fingers grabbed Barbara’s chin and turned her face and – Toni. It was Toni.</p>
<p>“Toni!” Barbara beamed. “Hi Toni!”</p>
<p>“Hi sweetheart. Let me handle Wayne. You go take a nap.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Barbara grinned. She thrust her phone at Toni and then stood to her feet, the ground tilting dangerously towards the ceiling. With a mad leap, she threw herself onto the futon next to Toni’s workstation, and quickly felt sleep overcome her.</p>
<p>“Well, if it isn’t my second favorite Bruce.”</p>
<p>“Barton, I have a feeling you’re going to owe me another twenty dollars.”</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>The Avengers Floor</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Something was poking her in the leg.</p>
<p>“Merg.”</p>
<p>It poked her again.</p>
<p>Grumbling, Barbara rolled over and immediately winced at the bright lights on the ceiling. She blinked once, twice, and a long metallic arm appeared in her line of vision.</p>
<p>“Ugh.”</p>
<p>“You’re awake.”</p>
<p>“Are you sure?”</p>
<p>Barbara heard a man’s voice laugh, and she tilted her head to see none other than Bruce freaking Banner sitting in a lab chair nearby, looking back at her. “I’m sure. How do you feel?”</p>
<p>“Only mostly like a corpse.”</p>
<p>He nodded knowingly. “On the positive side, you slept for about a day, so any side effects should be relatively mild to what you felt earlier.”</p>
<p>“A day?” Barbara shrieked and tried to sit up, instantly regretting the sudden movement. “Ow.”</p>
<p>“It’s a fairly normal response to our human bodies consuming Asgardian mead. If it makes you feel any better, Hawkeye drank three glasses one night on a day and was unconscious for four days. Anyways, that’s why we kept you down here, just to make sure you were near the medical equipment in case your vitals dropped. Now, are you feeling nauseous at all?”</p>
<p>“No, I’m more hungry than anything. I think my head is going to split open and my brain is going to fall out, but otherwise, I feel great,” she finished drily.</p>
<p>Bruce snorted. “Come on, let’s get some good stuff in your system.”</p>
<p>/////</p>
<p>Barbara contributed her massive headache to the fact that she didn’t realize she was in the Avengers’ <em>private suite </em>until she was literally seated at the kitchen counter next to Clint Barton.</p>
<p>“How are you holding up?”</p>
<p>Barbara groaned and leaned over, resting her head on the cool counter. “I’m going to murder Captain America.”</p>
<p>“Ooh, nice! If I distract Barnes for you, can I have the shield?”</p>
<p>“Deal.”</p>
<p>“There will be no murdering of Captain America,” Barbara heard Natasha’s voice enter the kitchen, followed by two sets of loud footsteps. “At least not before lunch.”</p>
<p>“Barbara, oh my God, I am so sorry –“</p>
<p>“Ah bah bah, you are <em>way </em>too loud,” Barbara stuck out her hand in the direction of his voice. “Also, you’re welcome.”</p>
<p>“Well, I –“</p>
<p>“He means ‘thank you’,” she heard Bucky speak up, and the sound of someone’s elbow hitting a rib cage, “and can he get you anything?”</p>
<p>“I want the world’s <em>biggest </em>ice coffee with vanilla creamer.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know how to make that?”</p>
<p>“There’s literally a Starbucks downstairs, Rogers.”</p>
<p>“Right, we’ll be back.”</p>
<p>“Before you drink any coffee, I want you to drink this.” Barbara glanced up and squinted at Bruce, who was shoving a liquid of questionable coloring across the kitchen counter at her.</p>
<p>“What is that?”</p>
<p>“Olive oil, egg, ketchup and hot sauce. A Bloody Mary without the alcohol, if you will. Lots of antioxidants and amino acids, exactly what your body needs right now.”</p>
<p>Barbara’s narrowed eyes darted between Bruce and the drink. “If I drink this, I can have coffee?”</p>
<p>“With lots of water, yes.”</p>
<p>Exhaling a huff, Barbara reached for the glass and began to sip.</p>
<p>“How is it?”</p>
<p>Barbara leaned back and blinked. “Woo, that’s definitely a wake-up for the sinuses.”</p>
<p>Bruce smiled. “Good, keep drinking.”</p>
<p>She felt Clint nudge her shoulder. “Wanna watch <em>Dog Cops</em>?”</p>
<p>“Um, yes, I abso-fucking-lutely do!”</p>
<p>“Awesome! Dude, next time you drink, let me know, I can already tell we’d be great hangover buddies. Nat, Bruce, you in?”</p>
<p>Barbara turned to watch the pair look at each other and shrug.</p>
<p>/////</p>
<p>That was how Barbara ended up spending the rest of her Sunday morning watching trash television with four out of seven Avengers that were currently living in the Tower. They all left her around lunch to go train, and Barbara offered at that point to catch a taxi and head home, but Steve insisted that she stay. <em>“Besides, Toni will want to see you when she wakes up.”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>“Where is she, by the way? Is everything okay?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Who do you think was up watching you all night?” Steve grinned at the flush on Barbara’s face. “You know, since you did me a favor, it’s only fair that –“</em>
</p>
<p><em>She was proud to say the pillow she threw across the room was right on target, hitting him smack-dab in the middle of the face</em>.</p>
<p>And so Barbara spent her afternoon in one of the Avengers’ media rooms, watching reruns of Queer Eye. Well, she <em>had </em>been watching reruns, but some time around one she’d fallen asleep, and when she awoke, it was to the sensation of soft fingers running through her hair.</p>
<p>“Sleeping Beauty finally awakes!”</p>
<p>Barbara blinked blearily and turned on her side to find herself looking up at a grinning Toni Stark.</p>
<p>“Toni? Toni!” Adrenaline rushed through her veins, and she struggled to sit up so she wasn’t laying across Toni’s lap anymore.</p>
<p>“Hey, take it easy, you’re fine. How are you feeling?”</p>
<p>“Better,” Barbara laid back down, trying – and failing – to stop herself from nervous sweating at the mere sight of Toni Stark who – <em>oh, God</em>, she had made a massive fool out of herself the day before. <em>Don’t bring it up, focus on something else.</em> “I actually think Bruce’s not-a-Bloody-Mary helped.”</p>
<p>“Of course it did, Brucie-bear’s a genius! And I see you’ve made it through some coffee and water, good. You hungry for anything?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, actually, I’m starving. Is there any place around here that has good cheeseburgers?”</p>
<p>Toni’s smile grew even wider. “Red, that is music to my ears.”</p>
<p>/////</p>
<p>“Dinner is served!” Toni hollered, dumping an actual pile of wrapped cheeseburgers onto the table.</p>
<p>“Wait, we’re getting Napkin Burger twice in one week? That never happens!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, we have a guest, so chew with your god-damned mouth shut, Barton,” Toni huffed at Clint, who snatched a burger off of the pile and grinned back at her.</p>
<p>“Did you order sweet potato fries?” Natasha asked, sliding into the seat across from Barbara.</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah, I ordered your weird fries.”</p>
<p>“Ooh, I love sweet potato fries,” Barbara exclaimed, dumping a little bit of all of the available sides on her plate.</p>
<p>“You – what? Betrayed, I am betrayed, Bruce, you’re my only true friend here in this godforsaken land.”</p>
<p>Bruce grabbed a sweet potato fry off of Natasha’s plate and popped into his mouth, maintaining eye contact with Toni the entire time. Toni gasped dramatically.</p>
<p>“How could you?! After everything we’ve been through?”</p>
<p>Any retort Bruce would have given was cut-off by the sudden arrival of Thor, Bucky and Steve, who seemed to be racing into the room so as to get the closest possible seats to the pile of burgers.</p>
<p>“Children. I live with children.” Natasha muttered, watching as they shoved each other out of the seat at the head of the table.</p>
<p>“Men,” Barbara shook her head, and the two redheads shot each other a commiserating look. “Cheeseburger?”</p>
<p>“Please.”</p>
<p>/////</p>
<p>“So, what do you think?” Toni leaned over from her spot next to Barbara. She was seated at the head of the table across from Thor, who had (unsurprisingly) won the chair-closest-to-the-burger-pile contest.</p>
<p>“That was the best burger I have ever had,” Barbara exclaimed, leaning back in her chair. “Seriously. I think my life has been changed.”</p>
<p>Toni smirked and copied Barbara’s movement. “See? I knew you had good taste.”</p>
<p>“And those sweet potato fries were <em>amazing</em>.”</p>
<p>Toni made a face. Natasha extended her arm across the table, and the two fist-bumped.</p>
<p>“Hey, Gordon, do you wanna finish that <em>Dog Cops </em>marathon?” Clint called down from across the table.</p>
<p>“I’d love to, but I should probably get back to my apartment at some point, I <em>do </em>have to work tomorrow.”</p>
<p>“You should stay here tonight,” Toni spoke up. Barbara turned back to face Toni so quickly she got whiplash.</p>
<p>“Really?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, why not? We’ve got spare rooms. Besides, this way we can make sure all of that mead is out of your system. I’d hate for you to have some sort of late reaction to it on your own.”</p>
<p>Barbara wasn’t sure who, but she could’ve sworn someone further down the table mutter <em>late reaction, my ass</em>. “If you’re sure. I won’t have anything to wear to work tomorrow, and I don’t really have anything packed –“</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, we have extra stuff for guests. I’m sure we can dig something up.”</p>
<p>“Okay, yeah, that would be great,” Barbara smiled at Toni, ignoring the part of her on the inside that was screaming <em>red alert red alert this is a bad idea! </em>Thankfully, Clint had whooped loudly at Barbara’s acceptance and had all but dragged her back towards the living room as soon as she agreed, which meant she could put a little space between herself and the boss that she was completely and totally in love with.</p>
<p>/////</p>
<p>(Barbara chose to ignore the fact that out of everywhere in the room, Toni sat on the loveseat next to her and shared her blanket.)</p>
<p>(She also ignored the fact that she once again fell asleep on the couch and spent the night cuddled up to Toni.)</p>
<p>(And she also also ignored the brand new Stella McCartney dress that was waiting for her when she woke up the following morning, along with a pair of Louis Vuitton shoes that still had the price tag on them.)</p>
<p>(And she also, also, <em>also </em>ignored the soft smile Toni gave her as she said her goodbyes.)</p>
<p>(But she couldn’t ignore the warm feeling in her heart.)</p>
<p>
  <strong>+1 The Day That HYDRA Attacked</strong>
</p>
<p>She was in the midst of finishing up her tests on the latest round of the new StarkPhone operating system when the power went down.</p>
<p>“What the -?”</p>
<p>She had precisely two seconds to stare at her computer in confusion before the emergency lights started flaring and an automated voice instructing employees to remain calm and relocate to the nearest saferoom began broadcasting. Of course, that seemed a little obvious given the sudden sound of gunfire coming from the corridor.</p>
<p>“FUCK.” Barbara grabbed her phone and started typing away.</p>
<p>“Gordon! What are you doing, we’ve got to relocate!” Kevin half-hollered, half-whispered. The rest of her team were racing towards the emergency door on the far side of the lab which led to a safe-room.</p>
<p>“Someone has to get the power back online!”</p>
<p>“That’s not your job!”</p>
<p>“I can handle this, Kevin!” She snapped back. Something in her eyes must have convinced him, because when she hollered at him to go, he nodded and followed after the rest of her team.</p>
<p>She began to mutter to herself as she access the SI server on her phone. “Back door, back door, where is Toni’s – ah ha!” She began to enter in a stream of code, ignoring the blaring emergency alert and the quieting sounds of gunshots. “JARVIS? JARVIS, are you there?”</p>
<p>“Miss Gordon? How did you access this server?”</p>
<p>“I’ll explain later! JARVIS, how do I restart the power?”</p>
<p>“The main server controls are in Ms. Stark’s personal laboratory. Unfortunately, it appears that whatever disrupted the power in the first place is in the laboratory.”</p>
<p>“Are your cameras working? Can you tell me what’s going on?”</p>
<p>“I am not certain I have the authorization to –“</p>
<p>“JARVIS, either you tell me, or I hack in myself.”</p>
<p>“You would not be able to –“</p>
<p>“Does the name ORACLE ring a bell?”</p>
<p>JARVIS paused. “Yes, I believe it does. And judging from the history on your cellular device –“</p>
<p>“Yep, that’s me, we’ll discuss later. What’s happening up there?”</p>
<p>“It appears that HYDRA was somehow able to infiltrate the Tower.”</p>
<p>“What? How? Why?”</p>
<p>“I cannot answer the first two, but I believe I can hazard a guess to the latter; they appear to be going after Sergeant Barnes.”</p>
<p>“Where is he? Where’s the team?”</p>
<p>“They are locked in the conference room of the penthouse floor. There appear to be four HYDRA teams approaching their location. Miss Gordon, if we are unable to restore power to the Tower, there will be no way to get Miss Stark and her colleagues the tools they need to stop HYDRA from taking Sergeant Barnes.”</p>
<p>Exhaling, Barbara nodded to herself. “I’m way ahead of you.” She grabbed her AirPods out of her purse, stuck one in her right ear, and slid her phone into the pocket of her pencil skirt.</p>
<p>“Miss Gordon, I was not implying that you should –“</p>
<p>“I know, but we are the only two who <em>can</em>.”</p>
<p>“Not to offend you, miss, but I am not certain that you would be able to overpower the HYDRA operatives on the laboratory floor.”</p>
<p>“Well, in the spirit of being open, JARVIS, I went by a different name before Oracle.”</p>
<p>“Indeed?”</p>
<p>“Have you ever heard of Batgirl?”</p>
<p>JARVIS was silent for a moment. “I believe I stand corrected.”</p>
<p>“Can you navigate me up there?”</p>
<p>“Of course.”</p>
<p>“Great,” Barbara said, digging her emergency grapnel gun and high-powered taser out of her purse. (You could take the girl out of Gotham, but you couldn’t take Gotham out of the girl). “Let’s do this.” Reaching for a nearby soldering iron, she made quick work of the automatic lock on the laboratory door.</p>
<p>Kicking open the door, she stepped into the hallway. “JARVIS, what’s my best path forward?”</p>
<p>“Take the second corridor on your right, that will lead you to the north-east stairwell. It is clear from what I can tell.”</p>
<p>“Let’s hope it stays that way,” Barbara panted, ignoring the rampant property damage around her. She slid into the stairwell, shoved the taser in her other pocket, and pointed her grapnel gun at the very, very distant ceiling. “Please be long enough, please be long enough.” The grappling hook made a satisfying <em>snck</em> sound as it attached itself to the ceiling. “Yes! Okay JARVIS, tell me when.”</p>
<p>“Tell you when what, exactly?”</p>
<p>Barbara grabbed the gun with her other hand and pressed the small button on the side. Her feet lifted off the ground and she swung into the center of the stairwell, ignoring JARVIS’ hollers in her ear as she began to quickly ascend the floors.</p>
<p>“ – ah, yes, of course, ten more – seven – five – two more floors – now!”</p>
<p>Barbara stopped the grapnel line from ascending and with one, two swings she’d landed back on the ground, released grapnel gun now in hand.</p>
<p>“How many operatives do we have, JARVIS?”</p>
<p>“Thirteen in total. Nine are outside of the laboratory, four are within.”</p>
<p>“Ooh, I love a baker’s dozen!” Barbara swapped her grapnel gun for her taser and made for the door. “Let’s get this show on the road.”</p>
<p>/////</p>
<p>She was a little out of practice, but she still made relatively quick work of the outside guards. The first one went down without a sound, thanks to her taser, and once she had requisitioned his high-powered rifle – well, it was a lot easier to knock the rest of them out and kick away their stuff. Which she did, in a matter of about two minutes and thirty-seven seconds (and yes, JARVIS insisted on keeping her constantly in the loop about her time.)</p>
<p>“Nothing like some blunt force trauma to make life a little bit easier,” Barbara murmured to herself. “What’s the situation with the lab doors?”</p>
<p>“They appear to be locked from the inside, Miss Gordon.”</p>
<p>“Damn it.” She peered around the corner into the window-covered lab. The four guards within were milling around what looked like an old Windows computer that had been hooked up directly into the Tower’s servers. Thankfully, they were all too busy looking at the many Iron Maiden suits to notice a robot arm with wheels slowly making its way across the room.</p>
<p>“DUM-E? DUM-E!” Barbara whispered excitedly. She poked her head out and quickly waved her arms. “C’mon, DUM-E, c’mon!”</p>
<p>The ‘bot stopped, and his arm swung around to face her. She pointed desperately at the door. “DUM-E, door! Door!”</p>
<p>The camera focused in on her once, twice, and then the ‘bot changed direction, making his way towards the door.</p>
<p>“You ready JARVIS?” Barbara asked, firing her grappling gun at the spot right above the door.</p>
<p>“As ready as I’ll ever be.”</p>
<p>DUM-E bonked his arm against the switch by the door, and the doors slid open. The guards inside spun around at the sound, but they were too slow. Barbara swung into the room and knocked the first guard off of his feet and onto the second. She fired her taser at the third, and then used his body to block the onslaught of gunshots from the fourth before finally pushing him at his companion. She whirled around to deal with the other two, only to find DUM-E knocking one over the head repeatedly with a fire extinguisher and You holding the other upside down and shaking him like he was some sort of toy.</p>
<p>“Nice work, guys,” Barbara said before turning her attention back to the other guards. The guard she had tasered was down, and even though he’d been wearing a bullet-proof vest, he was going to definitely have some broken ribs. The fourth was struggling to his feet. Barbara glanced around Toni’s many desks and grabbed the nearest item she saw, which happened to be a wrench, and whirling around, she slammed it into the fourth guard’s head. He crumpled with a sickening <em>crack!</em></p>
<p>She turned back to look at the guards fighting with the ‘bots. DUM-E’s guard was motionless on the ground, and You’s guard had been unceremoniously dropped on his head inside the trash can, seemingly unable to get out.</p>
<p>“Keep an eye on that one,” Barbara ordered, before finally turning her attention back onto the old Windows computer. “This is some old tech, JARVIS,” she muttered, dropping to her knees.</p>
<p>“Are you able to discern what it is doing?”</p>
<p>“I’m guessing HYDRA triggered a manual system restart for the Tower. This code is keeping the system from rebooting entirely, it’s scrambling the wake-up sequence. I wonder,” she paused, looking away. “God, why am I not surprised?”</p>
<p>“Miss Gordon?”</p>
<p>“I could try to break the code, but I’m thinking a manual override might be easiest.” Crawling over, she grabbed the power cord connected into the server and yanked. The Windows computer shut down with a static <em>click</em>-ing sound. The lights on the server started to blink.</p>
<p>“JARVIS?”</p>
<p>“System is successfully booting up, Miss Gordon. My connection to the Tower mainframe has been restored.”</p>
<p>“Yes!” She fist-pumped the air. “How are the Avengers doing?”</p>
<p>“They’re outnumbered by around thirty agents. They’ve managed to keep the HYDRA personnel in the room talking, but none of them are in a position to reasonably fight back, especially where Doctor Banner is concerned.”</p>
<p>“Do you have access to the suits?”</p>
<p>“In approximately thirty seconds.”</p>
<p>“Okay, grab what gear you can for the others and pick your favorite window.” Barbara stood up and jogged to the far side of the room. “I’ll go through the front door. Do you have any spare escrima sticks?”</p>
<p>“Second drawer on your left.”</p>
<p>“You’re a dear, JARVIS.” Running towards the door, she stopped, and turned to look at a glass case. “I’m going to need that too.”</p>
<p>/////</p>
<p>Barbara was tempted to take the grapnel gun for old time’s sake, but JARVIS assured her that the elevator to the top floor would be much faster. Besides, hopefully the door opening would be a successful diversion from JARVIS’ grand entrance. Still, she used the gun to grapple herself to the top of the elevator car, and as they ascended the Tower, she listened the conversation going on in the penthouse conference room.</p>
<p>“<em>I must admit, I am rather frustrated with you, Soldier. After all the time we spent molding you into perfection, now we must do it again?” </em>The male, vaguely German voice tutted. <em>“Well, at least I’ll have my fun.”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>“You won’t touch him EVER AGAIN.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Oh, Captain, so brave. So foolish.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Ugh, can we hurry up with this whole ‘supervillain speech’ thing? It’s beyond gauche. And your dollar-store German accent would be better suited for community theater. You know, maybe you just need to get some sort of artistic expression in your life. If gorillas can finger-paint, you probably can too.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I grow rather tired of your tired wit, Miss Stark. It will truly be an honor to watch the Soldier shut your mouth. Permanently.”</em>
</p>
<p>“Over my dead body, asshole.”</p>
<p>The elevator car slid to a stop. “Are you ready, Miss Gordon?”</p>
<p>Barbara nodded. “Let’s do this.”</p>
<p>The elevator car doors slid open, and suddenly she could hear the voices in the room, not just in her AirPod. The room exploded into noise.</p>
<p>“You TOLD ME the Tower would remain offline!”</p>
<p>“Carl, check it –“</p>
<p>“I’m going, I’m going – see? It’s empty?” The man – apparently Carl – stepped in and turned to face the other agents. “Must have been some sort of fluke –“</p>
<p>Barbara dropped down, connecting her left escrima stick with the back of Carl’s head. He crumpled beneath her.</p>
<p>Just as the leader ordered for his men to fire, Barbara lifted Cap’s shield off her back with her right arm and held it in front of her, stopping the avalanche of bullets – not that HYDRA had long to fire, because not two seconds after she did so, an Iron Maiden suit came bursting through the window and started blasting with its repulsors.</p>
<p>Slamming the shield forward, Barbara forced her way into the room. “Steve!”</p>
<p>At the sound of her voice, Steve punched the guard in front of him to the ground and leapt across the room. “Barbara?”</p>
<p>“Cover me,” she ordered, foisting the shield off on him. Turning around, she locked eyes with the next guard, a tall, sandy-haired man, and dove, aiming for his knees. He dropped to the ground and she slammed the escrima sticks into his neck. She grabbed the gun and threw it to Bucky, who was in the midst of grappling with two guards attempting to hold him down. “Barnes!”</p>
<p>He turned just in time to catch it and, whirling around, shot both guards down.</p>
<p>“Strucker’s down.”</p>
<p>“Nice work, Widow. Make sure he stays that way.”</p>
<p>Barbara was suddenly grabbed, and she fell to her knees next to a hiding Bruce Banner, who was crouched underneath a large oak conference table. “Bruce? What? How are you staying calm?”</p>
<p>“I’m reciting the Latin alphabet!” He hollered out, flinching as another body fell next to them.</p>
<p>“Where’s Thor?”</p>
<p>“He’s on Asgard! How did you get here?”</p>
<p>“Long story!”</p>
<p>“Miss Gordon, the armor has been compromised.”</p>
<p>“By who? Where’s Toni?”</p>
<p>Bruce grabbed for Barbara, but she dodged out of his grasp. She peered up just in time to see Toni stumble out of the armor and directly into the path of a man in heavy-military armor and a mask that looked like a skull. “Any last words?” He laughed harshly, forcing Toni back against the open window.</p>
<p>Barbara <em>leapt </em>across the table and crashed into the man, who was thrown off his course and into the wall.</p>
<p>“Red? RED!”</p>
<p>“So,” she gasped, rolling off of the soldier and back onto her feet, “what’s your deal? Skeletor? The Grim Reaper?”</p>
<p>“The name’s Crossbones.”</p>
<p>“Ugh, lame.” She swung the escrima sticks around in her hands and charged, dancing out of the way of his – since when did he have knives? She miscalculated slightly, and felt his left knife graze her right side. She retaliated by hitting him in the temple with an answering blow. Surprisingly, that wasn’t enough to send him to his knees.</p>
<p>“Enhanced, huh,” she panted out, dodging his now slightly-more-frenzied knives.</p>
<p>“Impressed?”</p>
<p>“Not even a little bit.” She jumped up and spun onto his back, kicking the knives out of his hands and sending him careening onto the ground. Unfortunately, she landed underneath him, and so he slammed her back onto the ground, knocking the breath out of her.</p>
<p>“Enough,” he growled, spinning around to gaze down at her. Grabbing one of his dropped knives, he looked down at her and was about to stab when he was dragged off of her body.</p>
<p>“Mach 67 deployed, Miss Gordon,” she vaguely heard JARVIS intone in her ear, but Barbara was distracted by the sight of a suit-less Toni Stark punching Crossbones in the face (or, well, mask).</p>
<p>“TONI!”</p>
<p>Crossbones growled and grabbed Toni by the throat, slamming her against the wall, and Barbara saw red.</p>
<p>“You know, it’s too bad. You almost look pretty, gasping for air.”</p>
<p>Barbara rose to her feet and lunged. She chopped down on Crossbones’ arm, causing him to release Toni, and with an Amazonian war cry, she charged into him, sending him stumbling towards the broken window.</p>
<p>He turned, and she could see him glaring at her through the broken mask. “You –“</p>
<p>She slammed into him again, and he fell back, now mere inches away from the window.</p>
<p>“You bitch!”</p>
<p>“Watch your language, asshole.”</p>
<p>“Toni?”</p>
<p>“I’m okay, I’m okay – Rogers, go, help –“</p>
<p>Crossbones stumbled to his feet. He touched his now bloodied lip, and when he pulled his hand away and saw the blood, he clenched his fists and started back towards her. “You shouldn’t have messed with me.”</p>
<p>“And you shouldn’t mess with Toni Stark.” With that, Barbara executed a perfect roundhouse kick, and Crossbones went flying out the window, plummeting towards the ground below, a silver suit dropping after him.</p>
<p>“Barbara? What did you just do?” Steve exclaimed worriedly, rushing to her side to look out the window.</p>
<p>“Sent Crossbones on a little trip. JARVIS?”</p>
<p>“Crossbones has been contained, Miss Gordon.”</p>
<p>“Although, for the record, I’m not opposed to him plummeting to his death.”</p>
<p>“Okay, I mean, I agree, but, uh, more importantly, what the fuck?” Barbara looked away from the window to find the rest of the Avengers staring at her in blatant shock with the speaker, Clint, looking like his eyes were going to fall out of his head.</p>
<p>
  <em>Bruce is going to kill me.</em>
</p>
<p>/////</p>
<p>Barbara was <em>strongly encouraged </em>(i.e. forced) by Natasha to debrief them the moment SHIELD personnel arrived to remove the fallen HYDRA agents, which she did in the presence of the Avengers and Nick Fury. Surprisingly, Nick Fury had seemingly agreed with her assertion that she wouldn’t share the secret identities of any other Justice League members, but only if he could include her as a sort of reserve agent in the event of another world-ending catastrophe, which she begrudgingly agreed to. In return, she made him promise <em>not </em>to tell Amanda Waller <em>anything </em>she had told them, which he was more than happy to accept.</p>
<p>It was only after the debrief – and the consequent medical check-up for everyone involved – that Barbara spoke with Toni.</p>
<p>“So. Batgirl.”</p>
<p>Barbara looked up from the med chair she was sitting on to see a bandaged-up Toni lean up against the door.</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“Huh. Damn, I should have known,” Toni shook her head. “It just figures.”</p>
<p>Barbara frowned at her. “Figures what? What figures?”</p>
<p>Toni crinkled her nose and shut her eyes, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingers. “That you’re the whole fucking package.”</p>
<p>Barbara just <em>froze </em>and gaped at Toni.</p>
<p>“Smart, genius-level smart, and you were <em>hiding it</em>, I’ll never forgive you that I <em>just </em>found out that you’re Oracle, by the way, and kind to a fault and incredibly well-adjusted despite your baggage, and gorgeous, GOD, you’re gorgeous, like, absolutely stunning, <em>and </em>you’re a badass too, and you’re way, way too fucking young for me –“</p>
<p>She wasn’t sure when, during that speech, that she had stood or made her way across the room, but just as Toni began to speak about their (twelve-year) age difference, Barbara leaned forward and kissed her. It was soft, and it didn’t last long, but when she pulled away, Toni was staring at her like she’d never been kissed by anyone before.</p>
<p>Toni didn’t waste much time. She blinked once, twice, and then groaned, charging forward and pressing her mouth against Barbara’s, wrapping her arms around Barbara and through her hair and holding her tightly against her, her tongue plundering every part of Barbara’s mouth until she stopped breathing.</p>
<p>“Jesus,” Toni pulled away suddenly, “and you <em>feel </em>fucking incredible. This has got to be some sort of mistake –“</p>
<p>“No! No,” Barbara rushed out, a bit too quickly. “You – you’re perfect.”</p>
<p>“Oh God, you’re delusional.”</p>
<p>Barbara half-laughed, half-snorted. “You’re kidding, right? Oh my God, you are so out of my league it isn’t even funny –“</p>
<p>“Hey, no, I wasn’t complaining, I like delusional, delusional is good,” a small smile appeared on Toni’s face as she pulled Barbara back towards her, kissing her again and again and again. When they finally broke apart for air, Toni looked at Barbara fondly. “I do have to warn you, though, I can be a lot sometimes. And I don’t have a great track record with – people, entanglements.”</p>
<p>“<em>Entanglements</em>?”</p>
<p>“Okay, relationships – basically, I’m trying to tell you that whatever Wayne has probably warned you about is probably entirely true.”</p>
<p>Barbara reached to brush a stray hair out of Toni’s eyes. “Well, as long as you only want to be ‘entangled’ with me –“</p>
<p>“God, do I ever –“</p>
<p>“Then I think we can make this work. If you want to. If you’re looking for that. Umm, if you’re looking for just a one-night stand sort of thing, I mean, we can do that too I guess, but I sort of already care about you a <em>lot </em>and –“</p>
<p>“Yeah, no, we’re in this for the long haul, kitten. If you think I’m going to let anyone else sweep you away, you’ve got another thing coming.” Toni’s smile grew soft, and for the first time, Toni appeared entirely vulnerable. And trusting. And that gaze was directed at her.</p>
<p>“Good.” Barbara nodded, unable to stop the smile on her face.</p>
<p>“I’m in.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
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